The Weingarten Center recently introduced an AI-based option for students with note-taking accommodations, prompting criticism within the Penn community.
The new service — called Messenger Pigeon — provides students with verbatim transcriptions of recordings of lectures. Professors have expressed concern over privacy risks and the service's adequacy as a tool for academic support.
Weingarten, the administrative body at Penn that oversees academic support and disability services, has historically assigned students who are approved for the note-taking accommodation with a peer note-taker. Peer note-takers are typically registered students in the same class recruited and hired by Disability Services to take notes and share them with the student who has accommodations.
“Because peer note-taking is volunteer-based, the availability of students willing to provide this support can be limited,” Disability Services Specialist at Weingarten Emmett Binkowski said in a written statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian. “To address this, we’ve introduced Messenger Pigeon as an alternative solution to meet growing demand.”
Messenger Pigeon, formerly known as Notetaking Express, is described on its website as “built-in generative AI designed to support learning.” The service requires students to record lectures and submit the recordings to the company. Students are then sent a verbatim transcription of the class within 48 hours.
The Weingarten Center’s website says Messenger Pigeon is “the fastest and easiest option for note-taking support.”
“By using technology instead of relying on peer note-takers, students gain greater agency over their learning and note-taking,” Binkowski said. “Assistive technology has proven effective for students with disabilities.”
College junior Zawadi Sankofa, a student approved for the note-taking accommodation, explained that for two of her four courses, no one signed up to be a note-taker and she was unable to receive the accommodations she had been approved for. Sankofa added that, for some courses, it took over a month into the school year before her note-taker was assigned, if at all.
“I kind of gave up on the note-taking accommodation,” Sankofa said.
However, concerns have been raised over how effective the new service is.
In an email to other faculty, Assistant Professor of Communication Julia Ticona wrote that she has “had reports from students that [Messenger Pigeon] notes are basically useless because of spelling errors, lack of context/knowledge about the readings and course, as well as being often too late to review before the next class.”
Other AI transcription tools have recently come under scrutiny for inaccurate or even invented content. The verbatim transcription of class sessions also are unable to incorporate any graphics or class materials being shown at the front of the room.
Ticona also raised concerns about the legality of recording lectures, including other students’ comments, and submitting them to a third party. She added that she had not given consent for her lectures to be recorded, and that herself and other professors had not received any notification from Penn about the introduction of the service.
“I’m concerned about where the recordings of my lectures are going,” she said. “It is actually a violation of the Faculty Handbook, as well as potentially Pennsylvania Law, to record people without their consent, which is what was happening."
Weingarten did not respond to a request for comment on the legality of the policy.
Other universities with similar AI services, including Wright State University and Cal Poly Pomona, have dedicated information pages detailing the service and explaining its uses. Penn has yet to create a similar resource.
Sankofa explained that accommodations are intended to ensure everyone has access to the tools they need to be in a position to succeed, but that functional resources can be difficult to access.
“It’s frustrating, and it’s disappointing,” Sankofa said. “Inadequate accommodations are “something that I’ve unfortunately gotten kind of used to.”
Ticona also explained that disability services are not always allocated adequate funding despite facing growing demand.
“They're doing what they need to do with the resources that they have,” Ticona said. “But there could be a much better job done with notice, with consent and with faculty.”
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